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INTRODUCTION

A WARM WELCOME

I am very excited to share with you the very first issue of our new medical newsletter, which was put together by our medical specialists’ team at Albert Goodman.

Our newsletter is designed to cover topical issues for our medical clients, and explain them without using intimidating jargon.

Happy reading!

SARAH EDWARDS Partner

GP CONTRACT 2026/27: Key Financial Headlines

The government has confirmed the financial framework for the 2026/27 General Practice (GP) contract, outlining a modest uplift alongside notable shifts in how funding will flow into primary care and how patients will be able to access the care that they need.

3.6% Contract Uplift (£485m)

The contract allocates an additional £485 million to general practice, representing a 3.6% cash increase (or 1.4% real‑terms growth) compared to 2025/26. This brings the estimated total contract value to £13.86bn.

The uplift incorporates an assumed 2.5% pay rise. This is rumored to result in a global sum uplift to £128.69 in 2026/27 from 123.34 in 2025/26.

Major Repurposing of PCN Funding (£292m)

A significant structural change this year is the movement of £292 million from Primary Care Network (PCN) level funding into a new practice level GP reimbursement scheme.

Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) Reform

QOF changes are financially supported by around £25 million linked to 18 new QOF points. These updates focus on priority clinical areas including diabetes, obesity, and heart failure. There are also changes to the childhood immunisation points allocation, where points could be achieved on an improvement scale based on a two year average, rather than achievement thresholds.

Retirement of the Advice and Guidance Enhanced Service

The advice and guidance enhanced service introduced in 2025/26 will be retired and funding will be incorporated into core practice funding.

Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS)

The maximum rates for ARRS reimbursements will be increased and there will be more flexibility to allow

SAVE THE DATE

We’re delighted to announce the launch of our free seminar series: Making Sense of the Numbers - Spring Update for General Practice.

Delivered in collaboration, representatives from both Albert Goodman and Stephens Scown will provide key updates on GP, PCN and Neighbourhood contracts, alongside other topical issues impacting primary care.

PCNs to recruit experienced GPs rather than just newly qualified doctors.

What This Means for Practices

The 2026/27 package signals continued focus on capacity, access, and prevention, but brings only modest real‑terms growth during rising operating costs.

The assumed 2.5% pay rise is below the Agenda for Change uplift of 3.3% and below the 4.1% National Living Wage uplift, so it remains to be seen whether there will be a further increase by the Doctor and Dentist Remuneration Body (DDRB) when they have completed their review.

The removal of the advice and guidance enhanced service could create significant levels of work that will no longer be paid based on how much it is used.

Capacity and Access funding is already used by many PCNs to fund practice workforce so there is concern that the replacement of this flexible income stream for a restricted reimbursement scheme based on further increases to GP capacity will result in an overall reduction of practice funding.

Together with the non financial changes relating to same day access for urgent care, the continuation of all day online access and the collecting of more access data, this is likely to be a challenging year for a lot of practices.

Further details of the new contact will be published in the coming weeks and we will discuss how the 2026/27 contract changes will impact GP Practice in our brand new seminars “Making Sence of the Numbers – Spring Update for General Practice”.

These sessions are designed for GP Partners, Practice Managers and Finance staff working within primary care.

We have the following dates and locations available: 21.04.26 BRISTOL 23.04.26 BOURNEMOUTH

Book your place today through ‘Events’ section on our website https://bit.ly/4s9XiIH

NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE COMPLIANCE – an

important consideration for

GP surgeries and Health Centres

Ensuring National Minimum Wage (“NMW”) compliance can be complex for many employers, including those in the health sector. We are aware that HMRC is currently targeting health sector organisations as part of its continuing programme of challenging employers to ensure that they are paying NMW, including asking many to review their own NMW position for the last 6 years. Increasingly GP practices and Health Centres may be inadvertently falling foul of the NMW rules and certain contractual arrangements can lead to issues when categorising workers (see below).

WHAT MISTAKES DO YOU NEED TO AVOID?

1. DO YOU KNOW WHAT CATEGORY OF WORKERS YOU HAVE FOR NMW PURPOSES?

There are 4 categories of work for NMW purposes. Each category has its own calculation method for NMW, including what can be included in pay. Incorrectly categorising worker types can lead to underpayments of NMW.

Salaried hours work – Workers paid an annual salary, in equal instalments for a set number of basic “ascertainable” hours. It should be noted that merely stating weekly hours in an employment contract may be insufficient to meet the criteria for salaried hours workers.

Time work – Workers paid by the hour for the time they spend working.

Output work – Workers paid per piece or task completed (also called piece rate work).

Unmeasured work – Workers whose annual hours are not predetermined, including those with irregular tasks or flexible schedules.

2. ARE YOU TAKING ALL WORKING TIME INTO ACCOUNT?

Problems can arise in cases where a worker has to perform pre work tasks such as, loading up computers

or working beyond their contracted hours. All time should be included as working time for NMW purposes.

If you have “rounding” in the payroll system to account for any overtime, this is not accurately reflecting actual working time. (An example of this is where individuals are only paid overtime when they work 15 minutes or more above their contracted hours.) Any time in excess of their normal working hours counts as working time for NMW purposes. Not taking this into account can lead to NMW underpayments.

The concept of TOIL does not exist for NMW purposes. Therefore, ignoring salaried work, which has its own strict criteria, employers must monitor additional time worked to ensure that it is taken back in the same or following pay period to evidence NMW compliance and avoid underpayments.

3. WHAT DEDUCTIONS NEED TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT WHEN CHECKING NMW COMPLIANCE?

Salary sacrifice will always reduce pay for NMW purposes.

Additionally, deductions from pay (with a few exceptions) need to be taken into account when deciding whether NMW had been paid. Examples include uniforms, costs associated with a dress code, and administration fees where you are processing attachment of earnings orders.

4. HOW FAILING TO PAY AT LEAST NMW AFFECTS EMPLOYERS

If the employer fails to pay NMW it can lead to:

Having to repay arrears at current rates of NMW,

Penalties of up to 200% of arrears (capped at £20,000 per worker),

Being publicly named and shamed for failure to have paid NMW.

Where an employer identifies an NMW underpayment and self-corrects this, before any contact from HMRC, HMRC will not charge penalties or name and shame the employer.

5. PRACTICAL STEPS AND HOW CAN WE HELP?

There are steps that you can take, and we can help you with:

We can help carry out payroll audits now to ensure accurate worker categorisation has been used and that NMW has been paid.

We can review employment contracts and handbooks to establish the correct worker type.

Identify any workers who may at risk of being underpaid.

Where underpayments have arisen we can guide you through the process of self correction.

Provide advice to help you strengthen record keeping around hours, (you are required to keep records for 6 years), deductions, and pay calculations.

6. CONCLUSION

The NMW rises in April 2026 mean that any underpayment of NMW, whatever the period involved, must be repaid at current NMW rates. It is vital that if any NMW underpayment is self corrected this is correctly communicated to the employee/ex employee to ensure that HMRC recognises it as such.

APPENDIX 1

From 1 April 2026, new increased NMW rates take effect. (see Appendix for new rates)

Confirmed NMW Rates from 1 April 2026

CAROLINE JONES Head of Employment Taxes caroline.jones@albertgoodman.co.uk

Making tax digital for income taxFINAL REMINDER

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD for IT) is being introduced from 6 April 2026.

This is the second wave of HMRC’s digital transformation, following the introduction of MTD for VAT in 2019, and will be the biggest shift in the UK tax system since the introduction of the selfassessment regime in 1997.

MTD for IT will affect taxpayers with sole trade or property income and is being rolled out over a threeyear period depending on your income levels from these sources.

It will only apply to you from 6 April 2026 if you fall under any of the following:

You are a sole trader with annual turnover exceeding £50,000.

You are a landlord with gross rental income exceeding £50,000. If you are a joint owner, the gross annual income limit applies to each owner’s share of the income.

You have a combination of sole trade turnover and rental income that, when added together, exceeds £50,000.

It is worth emphasising that the requirement to register for MTD for IT is based on the gross income received, not the profit made.

The turnover test will be based on the income reported in your 2024/25 tax return for those needing to register from April 2026.

Partnerships are not yet subject to MTD for IT. A timeline for this will be set out at a later date.

If you are affected, you need to sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax before 6 April 2026.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with your usual Albert Goodman contact to discuss any of the above in more detail.

IWONA SILVÉRIO Senior Manager iwona.silverio@albertgoodman.co.uk

Wales GP Contract 2025/26

Following 9 months of uncertainty, practices in Wales finally received confirmation of the 2025/26 contract uplift in December. The landmark agreement delivers a significant uplift to funding and a move away from one off cash injection towards recurrent funding instead. This provides multi year financial certainty and a renewed focus on transformation of primary care across Wales, helping to provide clarity for medium term financial decisions.

Key outcomes

The 2025/26 contract delivers £41.9 million of investment, equivalent to approximately 9% of the total contract value. The funding will be backdated to April 2025 and is recurrent. It was confirmed that 2026/27 would see a guaranteed uplift of 5.8%.

The investment is broken down as follows:

Uplift for partners, salaried GPs and all practice staff.

Looking ahead, the 5.8% uplift for 2026/27 is estimated to be around £30 million and confirmed to be in addition to any pay and expense award in 2026/27. This is intended to allow GPs to play a fundamental role in the Chief Medical officer’s ‘Community by Design’ transformation work. The 2026/27 funding uplift is to be split equally across the Workforce, Change and

Resilience funds, with only the Resilience fund being invested directly into the Global Sum. Any underspend on the Workforce and Change funds will be paid out to practices within the health board.

They also confirmed commitment to a full review of the global sum allocation formula, for the first time in more than two decades.

What does this mean to practices

When looking at such large figures, it’s easy to lose sight of what the contract will actually mean to practices.

The key points to consider include:

The contract value increased to £134.15, an uplift of 7.14% compared to 2024/25 recurrent funding. 1.63% when considering the non recurrent practice stabilisation payment for 2024/25.

The SFE reimbursements have increase by 24.1%, to £2,151.96 from week 3 onwards.

Partnership premium base rate increased to £1,105 per session, and £1,316 per session for over 16 years of service. An uplift of 10.5%.

Practices must use the 2025/26 funding to give a backdated 4% pay rise to all staff employed on 1 April 2025. This includes any staff members who have left. However, you will need to check the contracts for staff employed after 1 April 2025, as they may not necessarily be automatically covered.

The key theme here is that with the funding being recurrent and the guaranteed uplifts for 2026/27, this will give practices short term stability and medium term planning confidence.

With the end of the 2025/26 tax year looming, practice managers and finance leads should use this time to:

Update budgets for 2026/27. Ensuring that the estimate of pensionable earnings takes the increased funding into consideration.

MEET… JADE

Jade joined Albert Goodman’s medical team in September 2025 as their Executive Administrator.

Her role is to support the medical team with varied tasks. She is very often first point of call for potential new clients.

Before joining AG, Jade spent her first 10 working years at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton. During her time at Musgrove she gained a wealth of knowledge and experience working in various departments, most recently in the diagnostic imaging department.

Evaluate the pay gap between the workforce and consider the impact on the practice.

Align the practice development plans with the ‘Community by Design’ transformation agenda.

How does this compare to England

The 2025/26 England contact uplift headline was £889m, representing a 7.2% increase on 2024/25. However, not all of this was new money and significant sums were still directed through PCNs.

The Welsh contract sees a 9% uplift direct to practices.

RORY GRANT Manager rory.grant@albertgoodman.co.uk

Jade currently lives in Wellington, Somerset with her little boy and partner.

In her spare time, she loves making memories with them both, exploring beaches and new places.

JADE BROOKS Executive Administrator jade.brooks@albertgoodman.co.uk

UNDERSTANDING THE REMEDIAL PENSION SAVINGS STATEMENT

The landscape of NHS pensions has rarely been straightforward, but the introduction of the Remedial Pension Savings Statement (RPSS) adds a new layer of complexity for doctors already navigating demanding clinical workloads. The RPSS is a direct result of the McCloud Judgment, which found the transitional protections applied when the 2015 NHS Pension Scheme was introduced to be discriminatory on the basis of age. As a result, pension entitlements for affected NHS staff must be “rectified” for the period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022.

For many doctors, this rectification changes the recorded growth in their NHS pension benefits, sometimes significantly. Because annual allowance tax charges are based on this growth, revised calculations must now be issued to doctors who may have exceeded the annual allowance or have unused allowances to carry forward over the remedy period.

Why This Matters for Doctors

There are several reasons why the RPSS should be acted upon as you may be owed a tax refund or you may face new or increased liabilities. In addition, the high error rates mean you must check your data carefully and deadlines apply once your statement arrives.

Dealing With Missing or Incomplete Data

If parts of your pension record remain incomplete, for example, missing Type 1 or Type 2 certificates, these need to be submitted before your RPSS can be prepared accurately.

This is particularly relevant for GPs who have switched roles, worked across multiple practices, or left the Performer List.

Support Available for Doctors

Given the complexity, NHS Pensions recognises that many clinicians will need professional advice and financial support may be available with the NHS Cost Claim Back Scheme for up to £500 including VAT for independent financial advice and up to £1,000 inclusive of VAT for accountancy support in relation to HMRC reporting.

What You Should Do Now

As with any major pension change, taking informed action early is key. We recommend that you review your RPSS carefully (gather your historical records) assess potential tax liabilities, seek specialist medical tax advice and don’t ignore deadlines.

LISA PARK Assistant Manager lisa.park@albertgoodman.co.uk

SUCCESSION PLANNING: FINANCIAL & TAX IMPACT OF GP PREMISES CHOICES

Premises decisions - whether retaining the freehold, completing a sale-and-leaseback, or allowing a retired partner to retain a share - create significant financial, legal and tax consequences for both retiring and continuing partners. Early planning is essential to protect partner outcomes and ensure a smooth transition.

1. Retaining the Freehold

The most common approach when there is a retiring partner is for the surgery property to remain within the partnership. This could be with the remaining partners collectively buying the retiring partner’s share or a new partner.

In these circumstances the partnership needs to consider a valuation of the property, what existing property loans are in place, and how the difference (being the property capital or equity) will be funded. There will be a number of financing options and the impact on the continuing partners profits, drawings and tax need to be carefully planned and understood.

In most cases when the property stays within the partnership there will be no stamp duty to pay, but the retiring partner will have capital gains tax to pay on any increase in the property value at the time of leaving compared to the cost they bought in at.

2. Sale and Leaseback

An alternative option is for all of the partners to sell their share of the property to an investor and then lease the property back. With approval, the NHS will reimburse this rent, and this reimbursement will replace the notional rent paid when the property was owned by the partners.

This can release capital tied up in the building for all partners, and mean that new partners do not have a big property buy in, but does create a long term financial commitment for the continuing partners.

The terms of the new lease are key so that continuing partners understand their obligations, restrictions, service charges and exposure to dilapidations costs on exit.

Stamp duty land tax might be payable with a sale and leaseback and capital gains tax will be payable by all of the partners on any property value uplift and this is likely to be different for each partner.

3. Retired Partner Keeping a Share

Allowing a retiring partner to remain a co-owner might be considered. This might solve a short term succession gap or be considered a longer term solution and investment for the retired partner.

Partnerships need to consider whether a lease is needed with the retired partner and decide how the notional rent and property related costs will be shared to avoid disputes down the road. The practicalities of conflicting interests and obtaining agreement and signatures needs careful consideration.

There is a risk that Stamp duty land tax might be payable at the time of the partner leaving and at the time the partner sells their share back to the partnership. Capital gains tax will not be payable by the retiring partner until the share of the property is sold, but if the property is kept for too long this could increase the rate of capital gains tax payable.

Impact on Individual Partners

For retiring partners, understanding the capital amount to be paid, the timing of that payment, any capital gains tax owed and when this is payable is key.

For continuing partners, how to finance any buy out and considering the ongoing cost and impact on continuing profits, drawings and tax are essential, as well as understanding whether there is any liability to stamp duty land tax and/or capital gains tax.

Key Takeaways

Premises decisions significantly impact partner retirement outcomes and long-term partnership stability. Early planning reduces disputes, delays and unexpected tax burdens. Always seek advice from a specialist surveyor, solicitor and accountant.

For more detail, please watch our webinar with BW Surveyors and Porter Dodson, which expands on these options. https://youtu.be/gxt3F03qlkk